Charlotte, N.C. (April 7, 2005) – On Thursday, March 24, 2005, student scholars, donors, trustees, and other members of the campus community gathered for Queens University of Charlotte’s inaugural Scholars Luncheon. With over 800 students at Queens now receiving funded scholarships, grants, and fellowships, the event was a celebration of generosity, potential, and the Queens experience.

Vice President for University Advancement Patton McDowell welcomed the honored guests to Heaton Hall, a soaring octagonal space in Myers Park Baptist Church, just across the street from the Queens campus. The many-sided room seemed an appropriate venue for an event that recognized the multi-faceted students given the opportunity to study and thrive at Queens.

During lunch, the hall was filled with music provided by flutist Rachel Marie Gordon, Joseph Lammers Music Scholar and John H. Sykes Trustee Scholar. Attendees also heard remarks by Mr. Lyons Gray, vice chairman and North Carolina trustee of the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation, who spoke on the fulfilling mission of providing financial support to responsible people for responsible purposes. Gray also emphasized his personal Queens connection: he is married to Connie Fraser Gray, Class of ’69, who was also in attendance. The program then concluded with three student representatives speaking on the Queens experience and what the support of the scholarship donors means to them and the members of their particular college.

Queens senior Katie Womack, Ann Vandiver O’Quinn Scholar and Frances C. McColl Presidential Scholar, spoke on behalf of the College of Arts and Sciences. Womack shared her experiences from a summer mission project in Central Asia. She recalled the idiosyncrasies of the language barrier between her group of American college students and the students they met while abroad. 

“My favorite misinterpreted English phrase was how the students there said thank you.  They had learned, and were convinced, that the correct phrase was ‘Thank you for you.’  When you opened the door for someone or offered them a drink they always replied ‘thank you for you,’” Womack explained. “I fell in love with this phrase and I wish we said it here. It is exactly what I want to say today.” Womack will graduate in May and pursue her master’s degree in piano performance.

Next to speak was Bryan Seaford, Billy O. Wireman Fellow in the McColl Graduate School of Business. Seaford, who received his bachelor’s degree from Appalachian State University, now works with Sylvan Learning Centers, co-managing the Charlotte location and working to open the first center in Concord, N.C. 

Seaford recognized the Entrepreneurial Leadership Circle (ELC) and all McColl School donors, saying, “You are providing an incredible service to the community of Charlotte.  Your gifts to this institution will resonate in our community, as Queens and the McColl School equip the leaders of the present and the future, and send them back to you, prepared to make a positive impact on your business, your community, and your life.”

Finally, Patricia Tavaziva of Zimbabwe, Karl and Anna Ginter Fellow, spoke on behalf of students in the Pauline Lewis Hayworth College. A twelfth generation member of the Monomotapa Empire, Tavaziva is a cousin of the eleventh chief of the Monomotapa Kingdom and senator of the Rozvi Tribe in the Zimbabwean Chambers. A mother of four, she supports her two daughters that live with her in the United States and serves as guardian to twenty-seven orphans of the HIV/AIDS epidemic whom she supports in Zimbabwe.

After graduating in May 2006, Tavaziva will pursue an advanced degree in psychiatric nursing or clinical psychology. She plans to raise funds to return to Zimbabwe and create a non-governmental organization that will offer support groups and vocational training for AIDS survivors of all ages. “I don’t think I would be planning all this if I was not receiving assistance from Ginter Fellowship through the generosity of the Ginters,” she said. And, addressing all the Hayworth donors, she added, “Your money is not helping individual students only, but it also helps their families because as adult students, the money they save from their fees would be used to pay for other family bills. These scholarships are very motivational... I don’t know where I would be now without Hayworth College and its donors.”

After concluding marks by Dr. Lewis, the luncheon drew to a close. The moment seemed, however, to be more of a beginning than an end, as students look forward to great things ahead and donors envision the kind of Queens ambassadorships made possible by their gifts.

Click here to check out the photos from the luncheon